We often believe that getting children involved in sports will keep them away from smoking, drinking and doing drugs. Without much evidence, save the powers of distraction and peer pressure, many parents year after year accompany their kids to (...)
Sip'n Dip, a new addition to the growing food and entertainment venues around Omar Ibn al-Khattab Street in Heliopolis, opened last week.
The venue is small — just one area where all can be seen — and the menu consists of mini burgers and snacks, (...)
Hezb al-Kanaba, or the so-called “Couch Party,” refers to the silent majority of Egyptians — those sitting on their couches, the churning Tahrir Square roundabout lit on a screen in front of them, leftover dinner on the table.
It seemed that almost (...)
I recently had the pleasure of getting a casual and insightful feng shui assessment of my home. “Feng” means wind and “shui” means water, and it's an ancient Chinese idea often applied to design.
As with many concepts and beliefs, I am prone to a (...)
You've never been a “slave to fashion,” per se, but knowing what's going on in the fashion world can't hurt — especially when it offers you an excuse to do a little extra shopping.
This fall brings five “new” and unexpected items to the table. Take (...)
It's 8 am on a Friday and “Souq al-Gomaa” (the Friday Market) is already grumbling with vendors and clients. Since a fire broke out in the center of the market in 2010 and the government demanded it move to the 15th of May district, the “good old (...)
Maadi's Road 233 has been blessed with a new restaurant — a Mongolian eatery named Ghengis Khan. The restaurant is unassuming — white tiled floors and four tables visible from the front window. In the back is a fifth table — a haunt for the (...)
As International Women's Day arrives again, many women in Egypt worry that their lives will change for the worse in the near future and that they are nearly powerless to stop this. Several women shared with Egypt Independent their opinions on (...)
As you walk down Road 9 in Maadi in the middle of the day, you are inundated with honking from cars trapped by double parkers, shouts from street valets and vendors, and music coming out of the cafes that litter the sidewalks.
What often goes (...)
It seems Cairo has no saturation point for little shops full of knick-knacks and Egyptian-made craft products. Painted pottery and carved wood crammed into tiny stores where one must overcome dust and kitsch to find a piece worth placing in your (...)
Imagine a night at home with a good movie and some even better company — do you order Chinese, spring for Indian? No! Good Mexican delivery is now available from Gringo's Burrito Grill! The “delivery-only” joint opened in Maadi recently and despite (...)
As 2011 draws to a close an entire population takes a breath — thankful to have made it through one of the roughest years of this generation. For those of us who can say we made it, 2011 holds a lot of love, hope, fear, sadness and a growing passion (...)
When you look back at 2011, you may not think of food —beyond KFC's revolutionary debut in February, food for Tahrir folk has ranged from koshary to batata (yam) and only recently cotton candy. But of the few restaurants that opened in 2011, these (...)
The Fairmont Heliopolis opened its new Indian restaurant last month, an addition to its already internationally infused set of lobby eateries. Raj joins Maria's (Mexican) and Leonardo's (Italian) as well as a myriad of other restaurants and bars in (...)
Besides reaching a new level of understanding of tear gas remedies and how to avoid arrest, Tahrir demonstrators have come to master incorporating everyday life into their protests ― how to acquire breakfast, where to gather to get good mobile phone (...)
Traditionally school has acted as a mirror of society. The best students get honors and awards like top businessmen make money, the troublemakers get all the attention like murderers and thieves end up in the news, and the general public, trying to (...)
By 8 am, the four schools in the one-block radius between Road 3 and Road 4 in Maadi connected in what can only be described as a maze of lines. Women headed in opposite directions to the Thanaweya Girls School and the Kawmeya while the men queued (...)
Fayoum's Zad Mosafer, known among Egyptian writers as a refuge for the mind and soul, reaped mixed reviews on the Al-Masry Al-Youm English retreat last month. Reporters and editors gathered there for a weekend of brainstorming about the future of (...)
A fellowship program recognized and awarded nine Arab women US$20,000 to continue their research as part of an effort to encourage women in scientific pursuits under the slogan "World needs science. Science needs women."
The L'Oreal-UNESCO Pan-Arab (...)
Bar Louie was Gemmayzeh's first bar, and now that the district has become Beirut's hottest night scene, the friendly, chilled-out live music venue has lost out a little to the nearby competition. Located on Rue Gouraud in Gemmayzeh, the bar is (...)
On a particularly memorable trip to Hawaii's capital, Honolulu, a few friends and I decided it would be a good idea to spend an afternoon at the zoo. Connecting with our inner children, we picked our towels up off Waikiki beach and headed out to (...)
Taking a trip to the Thai island of Phuket and strolling down the street by Patong beach is an unforgettable experience. With a multitude of colors from the shops and pedestrians and the green cliff/beach view, images from your trip will remain (...)
As cars whiz back and forth on Egypt's Sahel road, carrying beachgoers to the pristine coastline in Hacienda or the laid-back rocky beachfront in Diplomacien, few take note of the small fish restaurants that dot the roadside. At these restaurants - (...)
As September approaches and a new school year looms on the horizon, parents around Egypt are faced with a flurry of after-school and weekend activities for their children. Cairo residents often say, “The two businesses that will always make money in (...)
With just a few simple ingredients, a simple bag of chips or a container of yoghurt can become a fabulously tasty snack of guacamole and chips - just add an avocado!
I know that for some, avocados can be intimidating - you need to get to know them a (...)